Tyler Adams is so good it's creating problems for USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter

Gregg Berhalter designed a system that was meant to take advantage of Tyler Adams’ versatility. Then Adams showed how vital he might (...)

The USMNT will take on Ecuador in a friendly tonight (8 p.m. ET, UniMAS and ESPN2) For new head coach Gregg Berhalter, the match will be his first with many of the USMNT stars currently playing in Europe, including Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, and Tyler Adams.

Let’s talk about Tyler Adams. The 20-year-old came up in the New York Red Bulls system before recently being transferred to their sister club, Red Bull Leipzig, one of the best teams in the Bundesliga, Germany’s first division.

People were optimistic about Adams joining the Bundesliga side, as he’s a rising talent and many people thought it would be a good test. What I don’t think many people anticipated is what happened when Adams joined the German side: He immediately became one of their more important players, and is playing at a level few of us, even those of us who really believed he was special, thought was possible.

He’s playing so well that all of a sudden his national team coach Berhalter has an interesting problem: He designed a U.S. tactical plan that had Adams as one of its component parts, playing a specialty hybrid right back/center midfield role that Berhalter unveiled with his first friendlies in charge of the team, though with San Jose Earthquakes’ Nick Lima in the role.

When Berhalter designed the role, just a few months ago, Adams was a bright young talent. But Adams is now showing that he’s one of the very best midfielders in one of the best leagues in the world, age be damned. And this hybrid role, while clever, may risk marginalizing a player the U.S. might need to build a team around.

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First, to get to how well Adams is playing. RB Leipzig currently sit in third in the Bundesliga, and look like they’ll comfortably make the Champions League. Since joining the team in January, Adams has started seven of the nine matches he’s been available. In one of the matches he didn’t start, against Hoffenheim, he was subbed in at halftime, coach Ralf Rangnick tacitly admitting that Adams should have been in the game.

This doesn’t happen for many 20-year-olds in any of the top leagues in the world. Adams is a fixture, and he’s playing a pure defensive center midfield for the club, it’s defensive stopper and engine. He’s completing 80% of his passes and looking more confident each week, playing centrally for one of the better teams in one of the best leagues in the world.

In the video highlights from his debut, you can see just how much he changes a game, how much ground he covers, and how he’s starting to see line-breaking passes moving forward. This was his debut. 

Ahead of the match this week, U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter confirmed that Adams would not be moving to a center midfield role, but would rather stick in the RB/CM hybrid role.

(For a brief, dumbed down tactical explanation: This hybrid role asks Adams to play two different positions when the U.S. has the ball and when they don’t. When the Americans don’t have the ball, he drops into a right defense position and the USMNT defends with 4 defenders, 3 midfielders, and 3 attackers, or a 4-3-3. When the Americans get the ball, Adams is asked to push up into center midfield, with one of the center defenders sliding a bit wide, resulting in a 3 defender – 4 midfielder – 3 attacker system, or a 3-4-3. Pep Guardiola loves to use this system at Manchester City.)

In theory, this system all made sense. Adams was and remains a versatile, talented young player who can play both positions. (Red Bulls were so desperate to get him on the field as a youth player they put him at right back, concerned he couldn’t handle the physicality of central midfield, and he picked the position up quickly.) On top of that, his USMNT teammate DeAndre Yedlin is dangerous going forward with his speed, and not a terribly great passer of the ball from defense.

So for Berhalter, the problem was solved: Yedlin would push up, Adams could play good passes out of the back and join the midfield when it made sense.

Then Adams went and showed he can play center midfield in the Bundesliga for a team heading to the Champions League. And Berhalter has to answer: Is this all getting too cute? Does it make sense to ever take Tyler Adams out of the central midfield, especially as he’s showing that he can cover incredible amounts of ground and play the position at the highest level?

So far, Berhalter is sticking to his guns. When asked about it at camp this week, he answered:

This is the beginning phases. We want to test it, and we want to see how it looks, and we want to see how he adapts and what it gives our team overall. When you’re looking at the profile of a Michael Bradley or a Wil Trapp, a very controlling player, and you have a dynamic guy next to him in Tyler who can come inside and still be influential from that position. We think that’s exciting, and we want to take a look at it. It may not work exactly how we have planned and we have to adapt, but I think in theory it’s something worth trying.

If we can be controlling the game, how we want to control the game, he’s gonna be up in a 2-3 while we’re attacking, in a position to win the ball back right away. He’s not gonna be in the back. He’s gonna be forward at the top of the penalty box, or he’s going to be combining in wide areas, which is right in his skillset.

Basically: Berhalter is hoping this works out, because he’s hoping that the U.S. has the ball a lot and, if they do, Adams will be in the central midfield anyway.

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But if it doesn’t work quickly, questions will come. Berhalter suddenly has an elite young central midfielder at his disposal who’s more ready than anyone thought. Michael Bradley and Wil Trapp are fine enough players, I suppose, but they sure aren’t Tyler Adams. And if the two of them struggle at any point, many people (myself included) will be wondering why Adams isn’t playing there, especially with Yedlin, a Premier League right back, on the roster.

It is a bold vision, though, one I am interested to see how it works. And, in theory, I’m excited that Berhalter is a coach with a tactical vision and the confidence to stick with a plan.

This is what friendly matches are for. You experiment, try to build the best team ahead of the Gold Cup and World Cup qualifying. It’s worth finding out if Adams is built to play this role.

The fear is Berhalter may be overthinking it. Yes, Adams can play this hybrid role, and most likely can play it better than Yedlin could. But at a certain point Berhalter will have to decide if he wants the players to fit the system, or if he needs to change the system to fit his players.